Purpose: This paper aims to describe Australian children's perceptions of healthiness and sources of health knowledge in order to develop an understanding of young children's perceptions, knowledge and sources of influence to guide future behaviour change and health promotion strategies. Design/methodology/approach: One-hour interactive focus…

Before the 2005 launch of the New Zealand SunSmart Schools Accreditation Programme (SSAP), 242 randomly sampled primary schools completed a mail survey about sun protection policies, practices, curriculum and environment. A 2009 follow-up included 189 (78%) and their mean Total Accreditation Score (TAS = total SSAP requirements met, range 0-12),…

Internationally, educators have proposed a shift from a narrow diagnostic view to a holistic and salutogenic perspective on pupils' school-related difficulties. There is, however, little evidence to suggest that such a shift has taken place, despite being talked about by school administrators. In Sweden such a shift is proposed through a new…

Within Scotland's new curriculum, a "Curriculum for Excellence", physical education (PE) has been relocated from "Expressive Arts" to "Health and Wellbeing". The repositioning of PE could result in a shift in the way PE is conceptualised. In order to understand this shift, we conducted in-depth, one-to-one interviews…

Background: Despite recent recognition of the need for preventive sexual health materials for people with intellectual disability (ID), there have been remarkably few health-based interventions designed for people with mild to moderate ID. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a computer-based interactive multimedia (CBIM)…

Joe McGinnis, principal of Jackson High School, is caught in the conflict between community values, parents' rights, teacher speech, public health policy, and his own positioning within the community and faculty. He must decide whether and how to discipline a teacher and former mentor who, in the absence of a clear school district policy, supplied…

Purpose: There is increasing recognition of children's abilities to speak for themselves. School democracy, as demonstrated by genuine participation, has the potential to benefit both teachers and students; leading to better relationships and improved learning experiences. The aim of this study is to investigate whether participation in schools in…

Although a growing number of universities are mounting concentrations or degrees in health communication, the most common level of training offered in the subject is a single introductory course. Typically, prerequisites for these courses are an introduction to communication course and/or a communication theory course. This makes it challenging to…

This paper discusses the findings of a multiple case study of a European health promotion project--Shape Up--a school-community approach to influencing determinants of a healthy and balanced growing up. The project sought to develop children's capacity to critically explore and act to improve health-related conditions at school and in the…

This study investigated student-learning outcomes of college peer educators whose primary responsibility or interest was to address health and safety topics on campus, such as alcohol and illicit drug use, tobacco issues, sexual health and safety issues, nutrition, and violence prevention. Participants included 69 first-year college students who…

Background: As a component of the physical education curriculum, Health-Related Exercise (HRE) has been subject to intensive critique in terms of its status, organisation and expression in schools. Concerns and questions have also been raised about physical education teachers' professional knowledge of health and the extent to which HRE features…

With rapid advancements in information and communication technologies, computer-mediated communication channels such as email, web, mobile smart-phones with SMS, social networking websites (Facebook), multimedia websites, and OEM devices provide users with multiple technology choices to seek information. However, no study has compared the…

A new hazard for adolescents is the negative health effects of energy drink consumption. Adolescents are consuming these types of drinks at an alarming amount and rate. Specific effects that have been reported by adolescents include jitteriness, nervousness, dizziness, the inability to focus, difficulty concentrating, gastrointestinal upset, and…

Much research has explored the role of social networks in promoting health through the provision of social support. However, little work has examined how social networks themselves may be structured by health. This article investigates the link between individuals' health and the characteristics of their social network positions.We first develop…

Text messaging services are becoming an increasingly popular way to provide sexual health information to teens, but little is known about who uses such services. This study assessed whether teens at a greater risk for negative sexual health outcomes use a sexual health text message service. A text message service that connects teens with sexual…